Welcome to the VEC (Virtual Endurance Championship)

The 2015 season of VEC has always been intended for once-a-month spectacular multi-class racing events. As a result of the game release delays, this has shortened the overall length of the inaugural season to 6 months. Any attempt to try to cram our original schedule of 8 events into the remaining 6 months of the year would turn VEC into something that feels more like work and less like an enjoyable event to look forward to. Many of you reading this have been interacting with us long enough on twitter to know that we have already had one proposed schedule which kicked off in April with the 12 hours of Silverstone, with the crown event at Le Mans in June. Clearly, the schedule had to change, but we have somewhat overhauled the original schedule into something we think everyone can really get behind. Rather than start the season with our crowning event on a platform that still has a few kinks to work out, we’ve opted to move the 24 hours of Le Mans to the finale in November.

While there may be a few groans about doing Le Mans in winter, there are more than a few reasons why it makes sense to push the Le Mans event back. The 24 hour event is supposed to represent a massive shakedown of what’s possible from both man and machine. We felt that on a new sim, with largely unrefined tunes, an event this big deserves to have some rounds ahead of it for everyone to step up their game and bring their best. Slightly Mad Studios have several bug squashing patches on the way as well, ensuring that come November, the game has a chance to improve and become intuitive…also that the Le Mans 24 hour race is the endurance race that the TURN community deserves.

       2015 VEC Calendar

Round 1 – Nurburgring GP 6 hours
Round 2 – Watkins Glen 6 hours
Round 3 – Sonoma Raceway GP 6 hours
Round 4 – Sakitto GP 6 hours
Round 5 – Dubai Autodrome GP 6 hours
Round 6 – Le Mans 24 hours

While Project CARS does not contain all the tracksof the FIA WEC, we feel that for the first season, this is a great list of tracks to cut our teeth on. There’s a good mix of technical, flowing, and traditional circuits that there’s really room for everyone to shine and show off their skill. Races are made up of multiple 2 hour stint races that contribute to the overall event distance. This calendar also allows us to race on continents similar to the FIA WEC, which the series is based on. Honestly, in looking at the options granted to us by Project CARS, we are quite pleased with what all is available, straight out of the gate. Just look at the possibilities of what could happen at these circuits. Nurburgring is gruelling and is fairly taxing on aero, so even the slightest of contacts could mean big time lost over a stint unless an additional pit stop is made. Sakitto is based on Suzuka, and with the high speed flow of the track, its going to be epic rain or shine. Sonoma’s elevation change is tricky for many cars with a huge margin of error that really makes it anyone’s game. Dubai is a race into twilight, which brings its out own hazards and necessary skills to deal with them. Le Mans has a little bit of everything and will serve as a great finale to the first season of 2015 VEC. We don’t want to give too much away about how all these races are going to run, but rest assured- after years of wanting weather features, drivers will get their fair share in VEC 2015.

       Car List

Despite conducting some testing among ourselves and with some community members, we cannot guarantee you that the following list is going to be balanced in a true race environment with proper tunes and focus. While there are a few cars that appear to be less competitive than the rest of their class, we don’t see the harm in allowing teams to pilot their favorite manufacturers in an attempt to “give it a go”. Strong teams can make up for relatively weaker cars, and the cars may not turn out to be under performers when tuned properly. Teams are free to choose the cars they want, but must accept any inherent car weaknesses as a learning experience for the 2016 car selection process. Currently, there is no method for balancing cars other than restrictor plates, which cannot be regulated by the lobby hosts, and would be ridiculous to police. When the dust settles, if we find that one car is indeed dominant in its class, there will be no rule changes or grid balancing methods employed. Chassis domination can and does happen in motorsport, but we can truthfully say that we have searched for dominant cars and have initially found fairly well balanced fields with a few cars that on first impressions come off as underdogs.

LMP1

Audi R18 TDI
Marek RP 339H
RWD P30

LMP2

Alpine A450
Marek RP 219D
03 Oreca Nissan
RWD P20

GTE

Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3
Audi R8 LMS Ultra
BMW Z4 GT3
Ginetta G35 GT3
McLaren 12C GT3
Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3
RUF RGT8 GT3

We hope that you are pleased as we are to see such an extensive range of cars and we hope to see all manufacturers represented on track when initial sign ups open. In the mean time if anyone does find anything game breaking with this list then please do not hesitate to contact us before the season starts.

       Getting Involved and Racing

When the VEC doors open for registration it will be somewhat stricter than what many have previously known. The registration will enforce that you can only register the team you are a part of, either as an owner or as a driver. Entrants will not be able to be part of two teams. Entries will only be accepted once they have a minimum of two drivers, maximum four drivers. Sorry, no privateer entries will be accepted into the first season of VEC. Entries will also not be allowed to switch chassis mid-season. In an effort to bring the very best in endurance racing, there are only 10 entries in each class (30 entries total, 60-120 drivers possible).  Any applications for entries beyond the 10 per class will be added to a reserve list who will be called upon should another entry drop out or fail to meet all criteria prior to race day.

We can already hear some objections, “Hey, wait a minute. How will a fourth driver be able to race in a 6 hour race when there are only three 2 hour stints?” Consider the entries as a driver pool. If an entry has 4 drivers, 2 or 3 of those drivers can participate in the 6 hour events. If two of the drivers are unavailable for the next 6 hour race, the other two can still participate and keep earning points for the team. For the final round of Le Mans, a 4th driver is allowed to help distribute the running time in the car. Think of filled out teams as built-in reserve drivers. While getting up on the podium of even a single round of the VEC would be a huge achievement, the VEC will have both a Team Championships and Driver Championship in each of the three classes.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this brief article on the VEC and invite you to share your comments and thoughts below or join us on the forum if you want to dive into a full discussion. This is a great time to remind you that if you don’t already follow us on Twitter, it is a great way to keep up to date with what’s going on. You can find us by using the Twitter handle @TURN_media. The community and its growth is extremely important to us here at TURN and we are all here to listen to any feedback you may have on any aspects of the web site and forums.

Many thanks,

     Martin Hall
     Operations Manager